At gathering of 100+ leaders, organizers pledge to engage ‘global refugee emergency.’
Editor’s note: Wesleyan General Superintendent Dr. Jo Anne Lyon is among the signatories.
More than 100 evangelical leaders gathered at the Billy Graham Center for Evangelism (BGCE) at Wheaton College to discuss how American Christians can best respond to the current refugee crisis. Convened by the BGCE and the college’s Humanitarian Disaster Institute, organizers of the GC2 Summit released the following statement:
Impacting nearly 60 million people, the global refugee emergency is a humanitarian crisis of unprecedented size. Never have so many people been recorded as being displaced, put in danger, and sent on the move. In Syria alone, more than 13 million children and their parents need humanitarian aid. Nearly 4.4 million have been forced to flee to neighboring countries for safety.
Moments like these are when Christians cannot remain silent and still. In light of this crisis, we commit ourselves and our churches to actively care for and minister to global refugees with mercy and compassion, both here and abroad, based on God’s compelling concern for all people in need and especially refugees.
In light of these concerns, we affirm the following:
- Refugees possess the image of God and, as such, are infinitely valuable to God and to us.
- We are commanded to love our neighbor, and it is our privilege to love refugees.
- As Christians, we must care sacrificially for the refugee, the foreigner, and the stranger.
- We will motivate and prepare our churches and movements to care for refugees.
- We will not be motivated by fear but by love for God and others.
- Christians are called to grace-filled and humble speech about this issue.
In light of these Christian principles, we cannot allow voices of fear to dominate. Instead, we commit to actions of love and compassion for refugees who have been admitted into our nation(s) in refugee status.
We acknowledge that there are genuine security concerns and encourage governments to be stewards of safety, but we also observe that choosing to come to North America as refugees would be among the least effective ways for those who intend to do us harm.
So, as governments oversee matters of security, we will care for the hurting, calling Christians to embrace refugees through their denomination, congregation, or other nonprofits by providing for immediate and long-term needs, such as housing, food, clothing, employment, English-language classes, and schooling for children.
We distinguish that the refugees fleeing this violence are not our enemies; they are victims. We call for Christians to support ministries showing the love of Jesus to the most vulnerable, those in desperate need, and the hurting. This is what Jesus did; he came to the hurting and brought peace to those in despair.
Critical moments like these are opportunities for us to be like Jesus, showing and sharing his love to the hurting and the vulnerable in the midst of this global crisis. Thus we declare that we care, we are responding because our allegiance is to Jesus, and we seek to be more like him, emulating his compassionate care for the most vulnerable.
Signatories*:
Ed Stetzer, Executive Director of LifeWay Research
Rich Stearns, President of World Vision
Stephan Bauman, President & CEO of World Relief
Jo Anne Lyon, General Superintendent of The Wesleyan Church
Frank Page, CEO of the Executive Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention
Alton Garrison, Assistant General Superintendent of the Assemblies of God
Jamie Aten, Director of the Humanitarian Disaster Institute
Sue Elworth, Vice President of Development, Marketing & Communications of the Willow Creek Association
Paul Ericksen, Interim Executive Director of The Billy Graham Center for Evangelism
Jenny Yang, Vice President of Advocacy & Policy of World Relief
Amanda Bowman, Director of Church Mobilization of World Vision
Micah Fries, Vice President of LifeWay Research
*Organizations are for identification purposes only. For theological foundations and footnotes, click here. GC2 invites others to sign the declaration and learn more about its January 20 summit. Additional signatories listed at the conclusion of the article.
